April Fools
by ThePhizz
Summary: Lord of Nightmares finally comes to collect on a debt owned by Gourry Gabriev.


April Fools

One of my longest stories and the longest one shot I've done. It took over a year to finally get the final version done. It started off as a little plot idea about L-sama playing a joke on Lina and Gourry and turned into well, this.

* * *

Two months after they had left Filia, Lina had finally found some bandit butt. Hearing the news of some thieves outside of the hole-in-the-way inn, the red-haired sorceress had literally jumped in the air for joy. Her partner had nearly joined her and they'd celebrated with a feast large enough to feed Saillune for a month. 

The reason for the joy? There, for some strange reason unknown to the worldly sorceress, had been a strange shortage of bandits. Or rather there had been no bandits, thieves or anything of the sort for quite a while. None, nada, zip. This, if you asked Gourry or anyone who had ever met Lina or heard of her, was a very bad thing. A _very _bad thing if you were anywhere near the infamous Dragon Spooker.

Especially if you were traveling with her as Gourry was. The swordsman had dealt with Lina's frustration as he normally did, taking it all in stride. The only real difficulty was the fact that he had his own issues that had nothing to do with the lack of money/outlaws.

Gourry would always protect her and would sacrifice himself if he had to, but...sometimes it was hard. Well, harder than usual. The swordsman had known that it would be a difficult mission a day or so after he had met her, but after fighting that dark cloud thingy and giving up the Sword of Light, the golden-haired swordsman was plagued by doubt.

Bandits and wannabe bounty hunters were no problem, but Mazoku were. Even _with_ the Sword of Light, fighting monsters was incredibly hard. They'd survived many of their numerous battles by sheer luck and determination. The task of protecting Lina Inverse suddenly became all the more dangerous.

Not that simple fear would stop him from following the sorceress. It would take more than that to scare off Gourry. Still,

Gourry didn't regret giving up the sword; it should've gone to the proper owner and he wouldn't have felt right using it after finding out where it belonged. The only problem was that it left him weaponless and with a woman who attracted trouble like light attracts a moth.

Throughout the months, he had been plagued by nightmares of Lina dying. Sometime it was by a demon-like creature, sometimes by the dark cloud thing, and he'd had nightmares about her not being able to control that one bad spell that she had used to fight that one Shabryningi guy. But mostly, it was about the golden sea. The one he had seen before, but could never remember anything about it.

His normal dreams involving regular things (eating, his childhood, conversations where he actually understood what was going on, the dream involving Lina popping naked out a cake and then eating the cake without him, the one where he was a giant corn that Lina kept chasing around and threatening to eat him) had all but disappeared.

Most nights he woke up bathed in sweat, and yelling her name. Some of the dreams had been quite intense. Lately, however, Gourry had been having a nightmare where he had chased after Lina in the golden light thingy. While this wasn't necessarily unpleasant, the rest of the dream was. No matter how much Gourry would struggle forward or how long he'd travel, Lina was ahead of him; pulled away by some mysterious force. No matter how hard he tried, she kept slipping away.

These nightmares filled him with dread and not-quite-logical fear, and as soon as they had entered a town, he had gone to the blacksmith, who was the only one apparently with swords, and had bought the man's best blade.

It wasn't as good as the Sword of Light, but it would do.

Gourry would do his best and when the time came, he would just have to try his hardest to protect her. Once he had wondered what Lina would say if she knew his feelings of inadequacy.

And of hopelessness, of fear and desperation, and the dreams themselves…The last thing Gourry wanted to do was make his best friend worry. If they had to fight someone seriously powerful, the swordsman wasn't sure what he would do.

Besides, she had already told him that they would find him another good blade. Lina had told him a day or three ago that she had heard some rumor involving a magic sword nearby.

Both of them where looking forward to this. They had also heard that bandits where nearby the shrine where the sword was kept. Gourry couldn't remember the names of the bandits. Something like the Gauntlets? Or was it the Goutiest? Grout?

According to the rumors anyway, these bandits had been prying on the helpless villagers for months now. Lina had been thrilled at the thought of blowing up some bandit booty, and had remained cheerful all day.

This had been a nice change from how she had been acting lately. Lina could sometimes be as moody as Zel, especially during that time of the month, but lately she was always worked up and angry. Although he'd grown used to her temper, it was strange to see act _constantly_ upset. Nothing; not even offering to pay for their various expenses had brought a smile to her face.

Everything had been fine when they were in that one port city, she had even seemed slightly affectionate to Gourry and held his arm for most of the day, smiling at him, eating together...She hadn't been the same since that day.

He supposed she was angry or frustrated by the lack of treasure and money. She often got this way when they were strapped for cash--which they were now. No one here needed mercenaries. There hadn't been any treasures or bandits. So there was nothing they could do for money.

After sleeping in seedy, cheap inns or outside for about a month, they were both sick and tired of being poor. Gourry felt quite guilty about making Lina sleep outdoors six out of seven days. After all, if he hadn't bought the new sword they would have more money--it certainly hadn't come cheap.

And if he hadn't given up his sword, even if it had been to the rightful owner, he could protect Lina better and wouldn't have so many nightmares…His stomach clenched up. Gourry knew he could handle bandits, but what if there was some kind of' demon there? Could he handle it? His replacement sword was good, but not great.

Plagued with doubts, he followed Lina into the forest that would eventually lead to the shrine.

They had walked for nearly two hours. Two very long, tired hours full of cranky Lina. Two hours full of Lina complaining which was almost creepy in the dark. There would be silence except for the crunching of leaves and twigs, then out of nowhere, Lina would yell or screech out something memorable that should have been saved for posterity.

Every time this happened, Gourry would practically jump out of his skin. He knew he should be used to this, but his nerves lately hadn't been so wonderful. His gut continued to tell him to watch out, that something, someone, was near. After not sleeping well for almost two months, the swordsman was increasingly edgy and anxious. It was like he was waiting for...

_Something that was late. Due. A task or favor. _

Gourry's stomach clench and his head began to ache.

Lina always brought trouble along with her, true, but this was something different and more personal somehow. Like it didn't completely concern Lina and yet was focused around her, circling her and narrowing in on him. An event where she had been present and anticipated in yet something he was responsible for. Gourry just hoped the red-haired girl didn't notice anything and wouldn't affect her.

The two people continued to trudge through the forest. Gourry heard Lina mutter a curse, then silence, then the sound of someone tripping and then finally a screech. The tall, muscular man jumped and ran over to where Lina was.

It was so dark (Lina hadn't wanted to cast lightning in case someone saw) and he was so out of it he almost stepped _on_ his friend. Lina yelped when she felt Gourry's arms wrap around her and pick her up.

Once she was firmly held in his arms, Gourry began to walk. Unusually, Lina didn't protest as much, settling instead for a bit of yelling and name calling and a swift punch and boot to the head. It was a free ride after all and her ankle did hurt a little bit, kind of.

Lina made no sound except for the occasional hiss of pain followed by a curse when Gourry would stumble on a rock and squeeze her too tightly to keep from dropping her.

The fiery-haired girl continued to glance up at her guardian. His breath seemed more labored than usual when they had to climb a steep hill. Usually Gourry was good at this sort of physical stuff. It was pretty much his specialty. Lately though, even his strength had been effected by his strange melancholic mood.

He seemed off his game. He had been paler than she had ever seen him except when things were really tough. _Not that they were skipping through a field of gold and flowers now_, she thought. Lina toyed briefly with the idea of asking him what was wrong, but dismissed the thought. She had been always disliked people asking, bugging, her with questions and didn't want to do that to Gourry. At meals, he wouldn't eat with his normal gusto. She had even seen him just pick at his food, but when he had seen her watch him, he began to eat like he normally did.

That's when she began to notice how different he seemed. His skin had always been a pleasant, normal color. She blushed at the thought of his creamy skin and pale pink lips…Lina shook her head, trying to clear it. True she had always found him attractive, but now wasn't the time to get caught up in a fantasy.

She was still unsure of what she felt for the man whose arms where around her. They were friends, and she didn't want to ruin that. If she asked him how he felt about her, Gourry might say that he thought of her as someone who needed a guardian.

If that was it...she wasn't sure how to take it. Blow him up, maybe. But that wouldn't help how she might feel later on at night, alone except for her thoughts.

If asked, Lina would deny any feelings she had for Gourry. She herself wasn't even sure how she felt. Or how Gourry felt for that matter. For someone who wore his heart on his sleeve, Lina was still unsure of how her protector felt for her. Sure he was always nice to her, but Gourry was decent to everyone. Until recently, the swordsman had never shown her was the fact that he put up with her.

But, over the last month, she had caught Gourry starring at her. Just blatantly starring at her with this weird look. Sure, she like the attention and she couldn't blame him from being captivated by her beauty, but the look on his face wasn't dopey or sappy with a side of cheesy or anything she could knock away with a flick of her slipper (not for lack of trying though).

When she turned to look at him, Gourry looked sad and depressed. She hadn't even _known_ he could look like that. They had stared at each other for a minute or an hour, before Lina had finally looked away. There was too much pain and expectation in his normally, cheery, summer blue-eyes. The sorceress had been unable to question him about it, to ask why he was looking at her like that. She'd been too afraid of what his answer might be.

That night, neither of them was able to sleep very well.

After that, whenever she noticed Gourry staring at her, she hadn't looked back at him.

Things were still uncomfortable around each other. And Lina began to feel tense and pressured. _What was that look? Is Gourry upset at me or something_? For a second Lina wondered if she'd forgotten something important. As far as she knew, there wasn't anything she was forgetting. No special event she'd missed and nothing that would make Gourry expect something different from her. The day had been normal as far as Lina could remember nothing new or abnormal.

Was that the problem? Was Gourry bored of waiting around for something to happen? What that something was, Lina could only guess. Was she maybe looking to deep into this? Could it have just been a normal expression on the swordsman face she'd been missing all these years?

That couldn't be it. He was usually admiring or plain happy whenever they were together. The stupid look had been more considering and depressing.Gourry was upfront with his feelings. Always. If he was angry at her or sadden by something, he would just come out and say it. A thought popped into her head_: Does he plan to leave?_ Lina usually tried to steer her thoughts away at this point. It was apparently set on repeat however and continued to plague her like a persistent itch.

Gourry wouldn't leave; Lina was sure of it. But, just maybe…he was tired of fighting for his life every other week and wanted something more solid to depend on. A place to go back to every night, a regular job and lifestyle. Maybe a family.

One of Lina's eyes twitched. The itch had returned with vengeance and the sorceress tried to 'scratch' it. A voice popped into her head, calm and level-headed that was at odds with Lina's chaotic mind.

_Didn't Gourry say he would protect you all his life?_

Yes, but...

_But nothing. Gourry's practically your… _

My what?

_You know… _

No.

_No? _

_No. _

_No? _

I hate you.

_Your…betrothed. _

Husband?! Nope, sorry, not Gourry.

_Not Gourry?_

Nope.

_Does Gourry know that? _

…

Her little inner argument would end at this point, though her troubled thoughts persisted. She knew it couldn't be healthy to be talking to her like that and Lina suspected the voice in her head resembled Luna--straightforward and exasperating. Had the knight been here, she would have brought up her relationship with the swordsman and planted thoughts into her younger sister's head.

But how dare Gourry assume they were married or a couple? Sure they were close and Gourry sometimes treated her over-protectively, made comments about her body and had said once said that no one was getting near her lips when he was around and they _did_ have a strange bond that had developed nearly from the moment they'd met…but that didn't mean they were a couple. Lina had never agreed on anything and neither had Gourry.

It was hard to fight the urge to reach up and bonk Gourry on the head and begin yelling at him. Especially when he would look at her. He was doing it now. And it was much harder to ignore it.

Finally, Lina snapped.

"Stop it. Stop looking at me! I'm so sick of that!" Lina practically screamed at Gourry. Gourry lost his grip on Lina and almost dropped her. In her panic, Lina reached out and grab some of his blonde locks in one hand and his shirt in the other.

Lina was half frozen and half on fire. She shivered; the feeling of Gourry's breath on her face was strange and intimate…wait…

The sorceress made a face.

"You haven't brushed your teeth in a while, have you?"

Gourry nearly dropped her. He settled for rolling his eyes.

"Your breathe isn't exactly minty fresh either."

Lina punched his shoulder and their eyes met. Her face began to feel hot while the rest of her was icy. She wanted to pull away, but her body seemed too stiff to listen. Her partner looked at her determined, the blue of his eyes were darkened and his brows were furrowed.

"Lina?"

"Y-yes, Gourry?" Lina's flushed face began to match her clothes.

_You sound like Sylphiel,_ She scolded herself. She hadn't felt this nervous around Gourry since their incident a couple days ago.

"Could you let go of my hair?"

"What?"

"My hair." Gourry sounded patient, and Lina became furious.

_How dare he be calm while I'm all freaked out! Isn't he nervous at all? This should be effecting him too? Bastard. _

"Your hair? Is that it?" Lina asked dully.

Gourry began to feel that familiar feeling of fear rising from his belly. She sounded calm, but her eyes were shiny, big and overly bright and she was frowning. Lina took a deep breath and Gourry relaxed.

"Well, excuse me! It's not my fault you almost dropped me. And who gave you permission to touch me anyway? And it's also not my fault that you have so much hair it's the only thing I can grab. There's so much of it! And why did you almost drop me? You could've hurt me. And why have you been acting so funny lately? And why don't you cut your hair? You look like a girl sometimes. A muscular, flat-chested girl."

"You fell down and I wanted to help you. I almost dropped you because I didn't expect you to start yelling at me and I almost tripped. I'm sorry. I like my long hair, and you really shouldn't call anyone flat-chested Lina." Gourry said dully.

He re-adjusted an uncomfortable Lina in his arms and started to walk over another hill.

Lina had to fight down the urge to strangle him. Her jaw clenched and she bit down on her lip. Not only was Gourry getting smart-allec-y on her, he wasn't telling her what was wrong. The only thing restraining her from launching herself at him was the knowledge that he might be sick or something.

They continued to travel in silence for a while. Lina squirmed and brooded on their previous conversation. She was actually grateful for Gourry's comment about her breasts. At least that was something the old Gourry would have said. Again, she began to wonder what had happened to him. _Was he really alright? Gourry can be kind of macho at times, maybe he's really ill or something._

The Dragon-Spooker was not known for her patience nor understanding. She could deal with silence, but not for long. After listening to the sound of his footsteps and breathing for what seemed like a lifetime, she had finally lost her patience.

"Gourry, what's the matter with you?"

She had said this with so much force and exasperation that the blonde swordsman was momentarily shocked. He took a long look at her. His best friend didn't look so great. She looked unhappy and too looked pale and tense. Gourry had a flash of guilt; he hadn't wanted her to worry about him.

Lina meanwhile really wasn't sure what to do about Gourry. He seemed listless and the sorceress had no idea what to do.

_What can an amazingly accomplished, beautiful, and brilliant sorceress do? _She wondered. He was looking at her in his new intense way. The man's brows were furrowed; his eyes dark and serious and his pale pink lips were set in an unhappy frown. Where was the guy she had known for the last three years?

There wasn't much Gourry could do to comfort the girl in his arms. Tell her how he was afraid of losing her and had actually ended up losing sleep over it? It wasn't a lie, yet it wasn't quite the truth either. He didn't want to scare her; it was the last thing he wanted. And Lina really was uncomfortable about feelings. She could take on numerous demons, but when it came to things like romance or even affection, she would become unsure and scared. It was frustrating and interesting and made Gourry even more protective of his friend.

The previous owner of the Sword of Light looked down after feeling a shudder run through Lina.

She was pressed up closer than she had been before, and her arms were cupped together against her small chest. Looking startlingly young, the girl glanced up at him.

Gourry pulled Lina as close to himself as he could without hurting her, wanting to reassure her. Lina felt that odd butterflies in stomach sensation along with the icy/hot temperature. Not that she was entirely complaining about that anymore.

Her guardian was warm, firm, and smelled strange. The red-haired girl breathed in the odor of sweat, musk, metal shavings and bad breath. Lina smiled. When she rested her head against his muscular chest, Lina could hear his steady heartbeat. She began to feel relaxed and comfortable regardless of the rocky trail.

She hadn't realized that she was asleep until Gourry shook her awake.

"Damnit, what is it Gourry?" She had been peacefully sleeping, dreaming about swimming in a huge pile of gold and drumsticks and Swords of Light and jellyfish who did wonderful things with their tentacles, when Gourry had rudely woken her up.

"Sorry to disrupt your beauty rest, but we have a problem."

"What?" Lina replied stupidly.

"Bandits."

"Oh..." Lina began to become drowsy until what Gourry had said really hit her.

"What? Bandits? Yes, finally! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" She hastily tried to squirm away out of Gourry's arms.

"Watch it! I almost dropped you." Gourry quickly tried to put Lina down carefully, but ended up tossing her to the ground and nearly landed on her to avoid a knife thrown in their direction. He hastily muttered an apology towards his partner who was currently sitting on the ground rubbing her backside, bruised from the fall, and her chest from where his arm had hit her. She muttered a curse then an incantation, and threw a Flare Arrow in the direction the knife had come from.

From what Lina could see in the limited light, they were in a large clearing. Tall, thick oak trees and unruly grass surrounded the outside. Dark, heavily shadowed by the trees, it seemed like any other clearing in nearly every other forest Lina had been through.

There were also several clumps of bushes. Through the large gaps in the shrubbery, the bandit's faces and body's were visible. Lina rolled her eyes. They were obviously near the bandit's strong hold. Way, way too close to stop and rest. She was tired, hungry and grumpy. No matter how nice blowing up a few bandits could be, Lina preferred to be well rested before doing it.

She heard someone curse, then the sound of bushes rustling. Lina became tense, and made sure to keep an eye on her guardian. _Is Gourry up to this?_ The girl mentally shrugged. They were after all, only facing bandits.

Hastily sanding up, Lina cast Lightning to illuminate the clearing they were by. She had no clear idea where they were, she judged that she had slept a couple of hours by the first rays of light over the horizon. _Almost dawn. We were walking (well Gourry was anyway) all night. I'm surprised it took us so long. Did Gourry stop along the way?_

Lina canceled out the previous Lightning spell and cast a Fireball at the bashes at the edge of the clearing. This would either scare the bandits, or maybe hurt them. Once the Fireball hit the bushes, they burst into flame. Along with several bandits. Squealing, they cam rushing out, some burnt and others smoking.

"Damnit girlie. Who do you think you are to be casting dangerous spells like that at innocent people," demanded the closest bandit.

Lina judged his age to be between the ages of forty to about fifty. Looking around, she noticed that most of the bandits were quite old and well groomed. Something she was actually grateful for--the way some of these guys smelled! Although the profession was attracted younger people, almost all the guys had streaks of gray in their hair or beards and wrinkles around their eyes. From what Lina could see, this had to be some of the oldest group of bandits she had ever fought.

They had been prying on the local villages for some time now, and had been well awarded by their dirty deeds. Most of the oldest bandits that were now filling up the surrounding area had clean, if slightly older armor. The armor seemed to be made of some high price material and cheered Lina up substantially. This meant that the bandits surely had plenty of gold and treasure. Smiling, the Dra-Matta cast another Fireball in the direction of the nearest group of bandits.

It surely gladdened her heart to see some thieves scatter and run away, many on fire._ They may be bandits, but they're smart enough to run away from me. _Hurling a Mega Brand at a huge guy heading for Gourry, she suddenly noticed that Gourry wasn't having the easiest time against the bandits.

Lina could hardly keep her eyes off of the blond swordsman as he did his best to swing a sword at a nearby thug. The said thug jumped backward and then launched himself towards Gourry, a short, blunt sword held in his right hand. Gourry quickly swung his sword around the meet the bandits' blade, then jumped to the side to avoid being sliced by another bandit's sword.

"Cover your eyes Gourry" He heard Lina yell. Gourry hastily turned away from the two confused bandits. He heard Lina cast Lightning and clenched his eyes even tighter shut. The muscular man might not be able to remember things concerning magic easily, but he knew from experience that Lina's Lightning spell could blind someone. Once he was able to tell the light had started to diminish, Gourry opened his eyes. All around him stood half blind thieves clutching their eyes, moaning and cursing. He reminded himself to thank Lina later, and began to swing his sword at the nearest bandit. None of them stood a chance against Gourry.

Although he didn't really think this was fair, Gourry continued to slash, stab and butcher his way through the bandits. _They're thieves, but still...they deserve a chance to defend themselves. _

He continued to fight before becoming distracted by the sound of Lina's chanting. She sounded cheerful and excited. Gourry was quite grateful that she seemed to be working off some steam. This month, hell, month_s_, had been frustrating for them both. Although his dread had lessened, Gourry still felt uneasy. Something was still wrong, but for the moment everything was relatively okay and in control.

The site of Lina nearly dancing/floating above him made him smile and his stomach unknotted.

_Defeating bandits was how she felt confident and powerful. _He had learned this soon after they had met. He rarely ever saw Lina look honestly sad or upset. Like him, she mostly lived in the present and as long everything was alright, Lina was content.

Never hopeless, always on top of things, trying to have control of the situation. Never…

_No, there was a few times…Yes, when things had been bad…_Lina was damn near invincible though, not much could hurt her. That time…

_A kid? No, a demon? _

_Black, surrounding him, wrapped around him, restraining him. Lina yelling his name and losing control, weak from their last battle. _

Gourry side-stepped a few bandits before killing them with quick, easy blows. His body began to warm up while his mind concentrated on other things. As though controlled by someone else, he made his way through the camp.

_No, not a kid. Not child was like that. A Mazoku then, green eyes and an awful smile_. _Glass, crystal, darkness, golden marbles… _

"No." Gourry mumbled as he hacked through the thugs around him.

_People surrounding him. Unmoving and…in the crystal? Yes, a building made from crystals. An unholy building. Darkness, someone, the child? yes, the child-thing laughing. Cracking. yelling. lina. brightness. _

Slash, parry, thrust.

_Golden being? _

_Lina, possessed and lost like he'd been. The demon-child had done something to him before the darkness and the crystals. It had made him take up the Sword of Light. No No No, that couldn't have been him. _

No, that had been a dream. He most certainly wouldn't attack his friends or try to kill Lina. Not him, never. That had just been a nightmare. Like the golden sea you could so easily drown in.

He had only the vaguest memory of what had happened after the black cloud (that had been real, so had been the demon) had taken him…to some place. The crystal building. Then waking up and finding the world a mess and Lina gone.

_The golden being that looked like Lina? when Lina had been lost and I had to find her in the sea_

There had been a being that had destroyed the unholy crystal and the darkness and it had looked like Lina.

Everything from that time was scattered and didn't make sense. Whole memories were gone and while Gourry usually paid little attention to the past, this seemed very important. Very important. Something that was due.

A golden figure that looked like Lina? Yes, yes that had been real. And the figure _was _Lina. Just a lost Lina, like he'd been with that monster that looked like a kid. Then running after her, which too had been real. Being sucked into something and then waking up with a confused and angry Lina in his arms, screaming about her lost innocence were real too.

Everything else was a dream.

_the golden being and the sea _

Lina cast a Blast Ash, turning the nearby bandits into well, ash. She worked her way through most of the bandits. All that were left were the ones Gourry was working on. His moves were still lightning fast and deadly, but his face was a mask of confusion and fear.

Fear? Lina had seen her protector manage to be able to single handedly deal with several low-grade monster, even when he was tired. Bandits should have been no sweat. She turned and cast another spell in the direction of the thugs near her protector.

_Rocks. jumping to rock to rock. Yes, that was right. _

_Swirling…what was it? Chaos? Keys? _

_Yelling. From him? _

_A barrier, reaching through it. _

_Feeling that horrible/wonderful sensation of warmth and coldness, light and dark, emptiness and fullness. _

_Power. _

_golden sea. golden being _

_Lina. _

_"_Good work Gourry." Lina slung the heavy sack over her should and continued to catalogue her new treasures. Judging from the look on her face, the bandits had done quite a good job of stealing.

Gourry stared at her blankly, nodding and looking around him. Fire, lots of it, burning buildings, blood and bodies.

What had happened? One second…

Lina must have taken care of them all. The swordsman mentally shrugged and inspected his sword, looking for any imperfections.

_What had happened? Nothing, weird thing. Got lost in my thoughts, that's all. Just got confused a bit and sort of blacked out, like when I've had too much to drink. _

Gourry smiled uneasily and watched Lina sort through the treasure.

_Golden sea. Golden being that was and wasn't Lina. _

_Nononono _

A tall, bearded bandit suddenly began to stagger towards them, the sound of his boots echoing in the quietly burning camp. They saw with some disgust and nausea that where his stomach had been, there was now a shredded and bloody ruin. His intestines hung in purple ropes almost to his groin and he was covered with a mass amount of gore.

Amazingly, he continued to walk towards them. His expression was calm, almost serene-- Even when he bent down almost casually to pick up his intestines and threw up a large amount of blood and bile. Lina felt her own stomach flop and her gorge rose. She struggled to swallow and keep it down before turning to look at Gourry.

Gourry's expression was one of almost horror and pain. He took several steps forward, his sword held loosely in his hand. Tightening his grip on the sword, the blonde men watched grimly as the bandit continued to walk towards him. Gourry knew he had to take care of the poor man and nearly was sick.

He had been a mercenary, and had seen things like this. But, something was different. Wrong. Why was this affecting him so much? The man had to be put out of his misery. There was no chance to help him. Maybe if Sylphiel was here, they could do something. But not now.

From what Gourry could see, his entire right side, from ribcage to calf was a dark red. All the blood had caused the man's pants to become black instead of whatever lighter shade it had once been.

Once he was within hearing range, the man began to speak. His voice was gravely, deep and he spoke in a monotone.

"Gourry. It's time."

Lina and Gourry looked at him shell-shocked. They hadn't expected him to even by able to talk, let alone know their names. And, 'it's time'? Did the man know what had to be done? Lina turned to look at Gourry. Sighing, she asked unhappily," Do you know this guy?" Gourry probably didn't remember him even if the two had once been friends.

A wave of guilt swept through her. Not only was the man about to die, but he was about to be killed by someone he knew.

Gourry paused from watching the dying man to turn and look at Lina. "What? Know him? Hmmmmm." He looked back at the man's face. His face was haggard, covered with stubble and increasingly going grey beneath his tan. Blood dripped from the gaping wound in his midriff to the ground in a steady flow that was just beginning to stem off.

"I don't think so, Lina. Man, what did you _do_?"

"Me? I didn't do anything. At least, I don't think so...I didn't do any spells that could do this."

"Then what caused it?"

"Maybe your sword? Maybe another bandit? I don't know, but put his out of his misery or something. There's nothing we can do to help him now besides that."

"I was just about to," Gourry took a few closer steps towards the bandit, his expression grim, his sword unwavering. He'd finish the man off, then he and Lina would go back to the inn where most of their stuff was. There, they'd crawl to bed, maybe even before eating a huge meal, and sleep for two days straight. He was sure that after he got a decent night's sleep, he would be refreshed and back to normal.

"Gourry, it's time. I've waited long enough."

Lina whipped around to face the bandit. "What do you mean, buddy?" _Was_ the man talking about his own death? He certainly didn't look frightened, just calm. "How do you and Gourry know each other?"

The bandit didn't even spare a look at Lina. He took another step forward, before bending down, throwing up more bile and blood. _Not that there was much left. _Lina thought, sickly.

She could smell the stink of dying even though she was a good distance away. He stank of blood, sweat and ash. His hair looked like it had once been blonde and thick from what she could see from what little remained near the back, but now was grayish/black and only wisps of it remained. Lina knew that she was partly responsible for the way he looked, but not the gaping hole that remained of his stomach.

"Gourry Gabriev, it is time. No more waiting. I have done my end of the deal, now it is yours."

"What the hell?"

Gourry and Lina stared at the man, the exact expression of confusion on their faces. After a second, Gourry began to feel a growing sense of dread. Something was very wrong.

The man began to step forward, motioning to for Gourry to come closer.

"Time to go."

_Golden sea. _

_"_What are you talking about? Go where?" Gourry tightened his grip on his sword. He could hear the fear in his voice and Lina sent him a questioning look.

_"_Go. Now."

Lina began to chant a spell.

"Lina, stop." Gourry looked the dying man over.

_golden being that was and wasn't Lina. _

"What? Gourry, you're not-"

"I'm not going anywhere, Lina. I just want to know who this guy is. Maybe he's just, you know, in shock. Or something"

"Maybe." This might explain something. He heard her call Gourry's name, and then...was just mumbling gibberish.

The man began to get steadily closer to Gourry. At this point, Lina had begun to worry and, frustrated, she cast a fireball, and launched it at the bandit.

Somehow, the man managed to duck. He bent his knees slowly, almost dreamily, the calm expression on his face never changing. After the Fireball went overhead, he continued walking towards the swordsman.

"It's time Gabriev. Time to go to the Underworld. I've already interfered with human enough. It was not my place to deal with human. As I have said, I did my part of the deal."

"What? The Underworld? Humans? Interfering? Who are you?"

Gourry paused to look at Lina grimly. Their eyes met in perfect understanding.

"Lina, what's the underworld?"

Not bothering to answer, she launched an Elmekia Lance towards the bandit. He never tried to dodge it or even move. The man just took it head-on with out flinching. Lina gasped. The man was some sort of Mazoku, or had made an alliance with a Mazoku. It explained how he was still walking around despite missing half of his guts.

"Stop trying to interfere, Lina Inverse. I have already helped you and this man enough."

Lina's face had gone dead-pale. She licked her dry lips and fought a brief wave of panic. Dealing with a Mazoku was the last thing she wanted. Not only was she tired and feeling cranky, but this whole situation was unnerving. Something was wrong; in the air…it was easier to breathe…Lina suddenly noticed that the fires around the camp had gone out.

"No way. You're not taking Gourry anywhere." She bared her teeth and Gourry felt a wave of warmth and affection towards the sorceress. Really, it was the little things like this that were Lina's way of expressing affection.

"Who are you?" Lina asked nervously. The roaring blazes had gone out, but she hadn't felt any magic being used and there certainly was no rain. The sky was cloudless and the sun was shining.

"I am...who you call Lord of Nightmare."

The sorceress twitched and Gourry nearly asked her who this Lord of Nightmares guy was until he noticed her expression.

"Good one, buddy." She began chanting an incantation. The fire spells she had used before seemed to have worked on the guy before.

"I have no reason to care what you do and do not believe in. Do not get yourself involved. This does not concern you…"

Lina froze up for a moment before her usual fiery personality dissolved any hesitation. She could sense something and nothing from the guy before her.

"Doesn't concern me? You come her, claiming to be the Lord of Nightmares, trying to take Gourry away, and I'm not suppose to be concerned or get myself involved?"

"There's nothing you can do. Do not try." The bandit suddenly began to reach out towards Gourry.

"Stop! Don't touch him!"

Gourry jumped backwards to get away from the bandit. He suddenly felt a tug, heard something rip, and felt himself being literally dragged. He barely managed to sheath his sword without stabbing anyone. Then, his feet left the earth and his collar nearly choked him.

Gourry tried to twist himself around to see what Lina was doing and where she was going. He reached up, grabbed Lina's leg, already feeling nauseas. Flying was the last thing he wanted to do right now while he already felt sick.

_Don't look down, don't look down… _

Looking down, he saw the bandit looking up at him. The bloody man's face was still serene.

The bandit raised his hand, made a fist, then opened, and closed his hand. Gourry watched him confused. Waving? Ok. Gourry raised his hand and waved back with one hand while clinging tightly to Lina with the other. After saying good bye to the man, he clung to the sorceress tightly.

He wasn't sure why Lina was going so fast. The swordsman could feel his stomach's contents sloshing around. He was almost tempted to try and grab Lina's breast in order to make her stop; it had certainly worked before.

They heard thunder in the distance while gray, stormy clouds formed overhead. A lightning bold struck alarmingly close. Gourry yelped and clung to Lina while trying to pull himself up by grabbing her waist. Lina yelped and bashed Gourry on the head on instinct. The swordsman saw stars and tried to keep a good grip on Lina.

The light sprinkle that had began to rain down on the two suddenly turned into a full on storm. Line tried to maneuver through the thick rain. It was almost impossible to see anything further than ten feet in front of her. Lina swerved to avoid hitting a tall tree that she had almost missed a second before, and heard Gourry yell and curse. She looked down and saw that Gourry had been hit by branches and his shirt was almost ripped entirely away. His pants weren't in much better condition. Giggling despite the situation, the sorceress noticed his underwear had little jellyfish on them.

Lina winced when a stick nearly took out her eye, and then rose another ten feet or so. This spell was taking quite a toll on her, more so than usual. A bold of thunder nearly hit them, and ended up striking the tree. This caused the tree to burst into flame and topple over. Gourry just about shrieked and tried to climb her up on Lina. He could feel the flames licking at his bottom, which brought back some strange feeling like this had happened before. What was the word for it? David Moo?

The two were now thoroughly soaked to the skin, and freezing. Before the storm had begun, the temperature had been cool, but not freezing like it was now. At least Gourry was mildly warm. In fact, he was quite hot…

Gourry shrieked and tried to climb high up on Lina as the fires grew. Lina yelled back at him and tried to maneuver around the huge inferno.

She felt Gourry shudder, then sneeze. Reaching down, Lina felt a mop of thick, wet hair pressed against her hip. He was shivering quite badly now. She had just begun to try and consider finding a safe spot to rest for the night, when her powers disappeared.

Full of horror and shock and other unpleasant things, Lina realized something awful and disturbing had occurred.

Gourry began to yell once he noticed how close the ground was getting.

"Lina! Stop, go _up_!"

"I can't stop! My powers are gone. We're going to crash!"

Lina grabbed a handful Gourry's blonde hair. Even under the unfortunately circumstances, she enjoyed the feel of the silky hair in her fingers. Gourry just had the best hair to grab and yank. Like at that one chimera lab. Lina let out a strange giggle. Those little Gourry's-

They hit the group of trees.

Gourry was the first to grab hold of a sturdy branch. Everything Lina touched seemed to break and then she was left with twigs. Like he had been training for this his whole life, Gourry reached out and grabbed Lina's hair. The sorceress shrieked and reached out for the nearest branch. Once she managed to get a good hold on one, Lina began climbing/sliding/shimmying/crawling/swinging and at one point even dancing across the huge tree they'd landed in. She fought many a squirrel before finding a sold branch near her protector.

Once she reached Gourry, she plopped down next to him in a nearby branch. They were both a mess and had rarely felt so torn up. Lina, turning to her friend, kicked him repeatedly and yelled obscenities. Gourry, with ease, quickly moved away from her before sitting gracefully closer to the sorceress. She eyed him jealously. _How did he do that?_ She'd nearly broken her neck just trying to pull herself up.

"So?" Gourry brushed his hair from his eyes. "What happened?"

"With what?" Lina flicked a few caterpillars from her shoulders.

"We almost died!"

"We always almost die."

"But, the flying…"

"Oh." Lina looked up from one of the abandoned bird eggs she was devouring. "Yeah, I, uh…" She gobbled up an acorn.

"What?"

Lina ate a few more nuts and mumbled something.

"Huh?"

Her cheeks puffed out as Lina desperately struggled to stuff more things down her throat and swallow at the same time. Gourry, oddly enough not trying to snag food, crossed his arms and looked at her expectedly.

Lina swallowed, choked and was kicked in the back by Gourry until she spat out her wad of berries ("You have to learn to chew Lina!" "Mweh!") and other assorted things. "I can't use magic." She cracked open another egg

"What do you mean? Why can't you use magic?"

Lina flushed at the question.

"Um..well, it seems that it's my…you know."

Looking at Gourry's dumb, confused expression, she sighed.

"You know, my time..."

"Oh...but didn't you just have it?"

"Yes, but tell my body that! It just suddenly--!"

She was cut short when a tree branch slammed into her back. Gourry's arm around her waist tightened and his other arm wrapped around a nearby branch. He easily tossed Lina onto a higher branch and steadied his hold on the other branch. Lina hastily grabbed hold of the thick branch and almost lost her grip on it when she heard thunder and growling nearby. _Wait...growling?_

Glancing down, she noticed the huge heard of lesser demons surrounding the base of the tree. _Of course, lesser demons. What else could go wrong? _The sound of thunder filled her ears. It had hit a tree right next to theirs. She suddenly remembered the thing about lightning and trees. _Let's see...lightning or lesser demons? Well, Gourry still has his sword; we'll at least have a chance against lesser demons._

"Gourry, we have to get out of this tree somehow!" she yelled to make herself heard.

"What?"

"What? Come on, we have to get out of here."

She reached down and pulled one of his wet, golden lock to gain his attention. Once he had looked up, Lina bent down the best she could and yelled near his ear.

"We have to get out of here!"

Gourry looked lost and confused._ Not much change there _Lina thought as she slid her leg off the branch and onto Gourry's branch. Even over the sounds of thunder, she could hear an ominous cracking noise. So, apparently, had Gourry. Both of them look at each other, then back at the branch. Gourry reached out and grabbed Lina around the waist while the branch cracked again and broke under their combined weight. Lina felt Gourry's arm around her again and looked up into his eyes.

"Gourry?"

"Yes, Lina?

"It was nice knowing you."

She wrapped her arms around Gourry's muscular frame and rested her head against his hard, warm chest.

"Lina, there's something I always wanted to ask you."

"What is it Gourry?"

He unwrapped one of his arms around her and used his hand to cup Lina's face. The sorceress blushed and was unable to resist the hypnotic pull of his face. Looking deeply into her bright, strange red irises, Gourry asked her a question that had bothered him for some time now. It had bothered him so much, he still remembered it.

"Lina, what is a fiancé'?"

While looking deeply into her blond friends summer blue eyes, Lina reached up and grabbed a nearby broken branch. Her expression never changing, eyes never leaving his face.

"Oh, Gourry. " Her eyes glistened. "You're an idiot"

She whacked the side of his head with the branch.

Unable to hold the strain any longer, the branch beneath them gave out. Lina and Gourry clung to each other and began to yell as they plummeted to the ground.

Once they hit the ground, they were swarmed by a horde of beasts. Gourry let go of Lina (who promptly fell forward and onto her face), jumped up and reached for his sword. _Wait. Where is it? I remember sheathing it… _

He looked all around and saw that it how somehow ended up in the trees. Gourry starred at it for a few second, cursing himself for being so careless. The sound of Lina yelling something distracted him. Whipping around, he saw Lina trying her best to fight against the lesser demons who continued to begin casting flare arrows at Lina.

Gourry launched himself at Lina and grabbed her. Ignoring her cried of protest, he swung her onto his shoulder. He ran as fast as he could away from the demons. Gourry managed to jump, slide and dodge his way through the horde of monsters. Lina was yelling something about being put down while banging on his back, but the swordsman continued to ignore her. It was quite easy.

After managing to elude the demons, Gourry ran through the forest. None of it looked familiar. They were somewhere near the middle of the dark forest. He continued to run, almost slipping on wet leaves repeatedly but refusing to stop for a second. Gourry could still hear the demons chasing them, slowly but steadily, and was determined to run from them. No matter what, he wouldn't let Lina get hurt.

Lina was repeatedly jostled by Gourry. His shoulders were quite uncomfortable and her ribs felt like someone had hit them with a hammer every time she was bounced by Gourry. Once they were at the inn, she'd give Gourry a talk about how to properly treat a girl, even when they were running from lesser demons._ There is no excuse to hurt a young, innocent maiden._ Suddenly, the ground began to shake and crumble. Gourry tripped over something, perhaps losing his balance because of the vibration, and Lina went flying a few feet ahead.

After crashing into a tree, Lina shimmied down and collapsed on the ground. They lay there panting for a second before the sounds of wet mud and the shaking of the earth made them jump up.

A huge hole appeared in front of them, filling the clearing. The hole was not empty, but full of quicksand, monsters and, to Lina's personal horror, slug-like creatures. Lina began to scream at the sight and tried to run away.

The ground beneath them was quickly sinking. Lina managed to calm herself down long enough to remember what to do in a situation like this. Go slow, don't struggle. She turned to try and tell Gourry this, which was hard through all the rain, when she noticed that Gourry was trying to fight his way over to here.

The monsters seemed to have no trouble dealing with the quicksand and were walking through it like it was regular, if slightly sticky, mud. Gourry was yelling her name, and Lina began to fight her way through the mud to her blonde companion. She stopped when several of the slug monsters through themselves at her. Lina shrieked and began to cry as she tried futilely to push them off her. They clung to her wet hair and clothes like parasites.

While his red-haired friend was praying for some salt, Gourry was busy fighting the monsters off. He had no weapon, so Gourry was forced to use his bare hands against the monsters. Gourry did the best he could, but without a sword, it was a strange sight. None of the monsters were doing any real damage, just surrounding him and keeping him from Lina. All the moving had caused Gourry to sink quite far into the mud. When he tried to get to where Lina's screams were coming from, the sandy mud would just pull him in deeper.

Lina heard Gourry begin to call her name, this time however, it sound more...bubbly than before. Not bothering to even try to push the slugs off, Lina began to run towards Gourry. The sand was all the way to his neck, or rather, Gourry had sunk all the way to his neck. His arms were raised above his head and Lina thanked all the gods and Mazoku for that fact.

"You jellyfish. You should know not to struggle in quicksand."

She grabbed some of his blonde hair, ignoring his protests like he had done to her, and began to gently pull. Her gentle tugging somehow frightened Gourry more than the constant sinking.

"Ouch, Lina." He pulled away from her when she tugged on his hair and tried to pull away.

"This is no time to complain." Desperately, Lina tugged harder, not noticing her own sinking feet.

"Get away from me Lina! You're starting to sink too!"

Gourry somehow managed to pull his arm out of the sorceress's grip and push Lina away. She felt backwards, and then hurried to grab his arm and began pulling on it, feet sinking further into the sand.

"There's no way I'm letting go! I-I thought you were my guardian?"

"I am, that's why I'm dong _this."_ He shoved Lina as far away as he could. Lina only budged a few inches away and was already sinking to her knees in the quicksand.

"You're not going with me, Lina." Grimly, his eyes met her and they stared at each other for a second. They'd always been able to read each other well and this moment was no exception.

"But Gourry-!"

"No buts Lina. Try and get yourself out of here."

"Gourry, this is no time to be chivalrous!"

By this time, Gourry had sunk to his chin and was struggling to talk. When Lina tried to grab his hand, he moved it out of the way. Lina had a hard time giving up and struggled to grab his hand. By the time Gourry was up to his nose in quicksand, Lina was numb and didn't notice when she began yelling Gourry's name. His nails cut into her palm as he tried fruitlessly to continue pushing her away.

She clung to his hand, shrieking, and watched her friend sink further into the mud. His light blue eyes met Lina's. Gourry's eyes were calm and steady and never wavered from Lina's. She reached forward to touch his blonde hair one last time before he completely disappeared into the sand.

As soon as he did, everything stopped. Lina glanced up from where she had seen Gourry for the last time and noticed the monsters were gone. The quicksand was drying up and she was able to pull herself out of the sand. A ray of sunlight caught her eye, and Lina looked up at the sky and noticed vaguely that the sun was suddenly shining. She looked back at the area where Gourry had disappeared and felt a wave of shock and disbelief run through her.

Gourry wasn't gone. He had never just disappeared like this. Even with Phibrizzo, there was still a chance for Gourry to be alive. Her protector wouldn't just…be gone like that. Gourry wouldn't do that, he couldn't. It was just a fact, like how the sun was hot and the grass was green. Gourry surely wasn't gone.

Lina tried to steady her knees and felt warm water on her face. She wiped at her cheeks, but her eyes seemed to be leaking uncontrollably. She heard a strange whimpering noise and realized that it had come from her. Even enveloped in shock, her body seemed to know something the rest of her didn't. The tears felt like hot bullets and every one seemed to hurt. Lina gagged and struggled to breathe. She grabbed a double handful of her pants and bent over while she cried. Her nails bit into legs and her injured hands ached.

Through her dazed pain, Lina heard someone walking towards her. The footsteps were uneven, like the person was drunk or unused to walking. Lina didn't even bother wiping at her tears and forced herself to look at the personThe bandit was supposed to be dead._ Not Gourry. Not Gourry. _

Just as unsteady as the hellish thing walking towards her, Lina stood. She choked back tears and saliva. The thing neared, its disemboweled organs still hanging grotesquely like a misshapen and bloody purse.

Lina stared at the man, horrified. The guy was somehow walking, and more importantly, he was somehow involved with Gourry's...

Lina began to chant a spell when the bandit came within hearing range of her. _He's fast, despite being a zombie. I'll put him out of his misery though. _Lina was just about to throw the fireball at the bandit, when he began to laugh. This caused whatever blood the man still had in him to drip out of the hole where his stomach had once been. He was grinning. Grinning. _Grinning._

And then when he snapped his fingers, Lina snapped as well. The ugly inhuman bandit's face seemed to be burned into Lina's skull and eyes.

_He was dead. He's dead. I'll kill him. Slow. Painfully. I'll skin him alive and burn him. _As the pleasant and comforting thoughts of the bandit's torture popped into Lina's head, she noticed that he was pointing. All Lina could see was red. She began to chant the spell for the Dragon Slave after she dispelled the fireball.

"Lina, you may want to turn around." the bandit was grinning, showing off his crooked, yellow teeth.

"You're dead." Her voice, low and insidious, cracked and Lina nearly choked. Her vision was blurry and everything hurt and Gourry was gone. "I'll going to kill you." The sorceress continued mumbling the familiar incantation to her infamous Dragon Slave spell.

"Lina! Lina, you're ok! What are you doing?"

Lina whipped around to look at a very dirty, clueless looking Gourry whose face was covered in grime except for where his tears had left tracks in the mud.

"Gourry?" Lina took a few unsteady steps towards him, her face a mask of hopefulness and fear.

"Of course. Who else would it be? Oh, and you never answered my question about the fiancé thing." He smiled charmingly and his friend let out choke whimper and continued to cry.

"You moron." Lina wiped at her eyes to try and get a better look at her protector.

Lina began to run toward Gourry, tears blurring her sight. Gourry watched her stumble towards him and he ran up to grab and steady her. As soon as Gourry's arms were wrapped around her, she buried her head into his chest and cried. Seeing her tears frightened him more than nearly being struck by lightening did. Gourry knew he had to comfort her somehow. It was a rare thing and the swordsman couldn't remember the last time when he'd seen Lina actually cry. He began to stroke her back lightly while she sobbed into his filthy shirt.

"It's okay Lina. I'm fine." Nervously, Gourry ran his fingers through Lina's tangled red hair.

Lina continued to sob and clung to him tightly. Until she realized the bandit was still laughing. They both tensed up, murder clear in both their minds. Lina was the first to face the bandit with bloodshot eye and the beginnings of a flare arrow in her hand.

"April Fools," the bandit said cheerfully before disappearing in a poof of smoke.


End file.
